Boost for 353 local businesses

The Ministry of Industrialisation and Trade has handed over equipment to 353 small and medium enterprises as part of its Equipment Aid Scheme.

During a handover ceremony at Ongwediva last week, minister of trade Lucia Iipumbu said 671 applications were received from across the country.

Iipumbu said the equipment is to assist the businesses to boost productivity which is hindered by the cost of acquiring such machinery.

“One of the identified constraints is low productivity due to lack of access to appropriate production machinery, technology and inputs. Most businesses not only face high costs as a result of high direct purchase costs of equipment, but also the challenges related to access to financing from financial institutions and business capital,” said Iipumbu.

According to Iipumbu, businesses in manufacturing, agro-food processing, gemstone and dimension stone processing, pharmaceutical and cosmetics, and refrigeration and air conditioning were the main target.

“A total number of 671 applications were received from across the country and 353 (53%) were approved,” she said.

Iipumbu added that out of the approved applications, the Khomas region recorded the highest applications – 176 of which 81 were approved, receiving about 40% of the allocated funds – whereas the Kunene region recorded the lowest, with just 1% of which were approved.

Earlier this month, Iipumbu said she was disappointed to see the lack of interest for the aid schemes, as 40% of the applications came from Windhoek.

She added that the ministry is then forced to bend the rules to get beneficiaries from other regions.

“Sometimes we have to bend the rules to qualify some.

Sometimes we have to ask them to submit whatever is outstanding so that at least we can have about six or seven beneficiaries from one region at the expense of the many people that meet the requirements in commerce,” said Iipumbu.

The ministry launched the application window for the 2024/2025 cohort.